Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax says Democrats continue with the most registered voters, but Republicans are closing the gap.

Historically with an overwhelming advantage, Democrats now face what has been electoral reality for years: Republicans have the momentum.

Oklahoma Voter Registration Statistics avs of June 1, 2012:

Party 6/1/2012

======= =======

Democrat 942,987 46.45%

Republican 851,759 41.96%

Americans Elect 6 0.00%

Independent 235,321 11.59%

TOTAL 2,030,073

Notes about the updated voter registration statistics:

Oklahoma’s Primary Election is Tuesday, June 26, 2012.

The latest voter registration statistics from the Oklahoma State Election Board reflect a continuing trend that has seen a steady growth in the percentage of Oklahoma voters who are registered Republicans and Independents.

The total number of registered voters in Oklahoma has increased by more than 29,000 since January 15, 2012. As of June 1,2012, there are 2,030,073 registered voters in Oklahoma.

Democrats continue to be Oklahoma’s largest political party, with 942,987 registered voters, or 46.45% of all voters. That’s a netdecrease of 296 voters since January 15, 2012.

Registered Republicans now number 851,759 registered voters, or 41.96% of registered voters, a netincrease of 23,502 since January 15, 2012.

Oklahoma’s newest political party – Americans Elect – led a successful petition drive and was recognized as a political party in March. Americans Elect party now has 6 registered voters.

The number of Oklahomans registering as Independent, or no party, is now 235,321, or 11.59% of all registered voters. That is a netincrease of 6,251 since January.

Historical voter registration statistics:

Thirty years ago, in 1982, Democrats made up 71.4% of registered voters in Oklahoma compared to 26.4% for Republicans and 2.2% for Independents.

Ten years ago, in 2002, 53.7% of registered voters were Democrats, compared to 36.3% for Republicans and 10% for Independents.

On January 15 of this year, Democrats were 47.1% of voters, Republicans were 41.4% and Independents were 11.5%.

“There are a lot of Ron Paul people who like to think of themselves as a ragtag rebel army,” Doherty said. “But Rand Paul is clearly positioning himself to play the part of the loyal opposition in the Republican Party. Emphasis on loyal.”

What was surprising about the endorsement, Doherty said, was its timing.

“It seems like a gratuitous kick in the face to his father’s most ardent supporters,” Doherty said, adding that the endorsement seems to indicate that “Rand Paul might have less respect for the grassroots movement than he ought to.”

It’s possible, however, that Rand Paul knew he was going to piss off his father’s die-hard fans — he just didn’t care.

“There’s a lot more to the movement than the hard-core fanatics,” Doherty said. “There are a lot of people who voted for Ron Paul [in the primaries] who are not writing angry things about Rand Paul on the Internet today.”

And Rand Paul’s comments during his endorsement Thursday suggest that he was at least aware of the people he was betraying:

Even if he has decided that he can give up on the most hard-core fanatics, his support for Romney threatens to hurt his credibility within the broader Liberty Movement, particularly among those who see Romney’s hawkish foreign policy positions — and Bush-era national security advisors — as anathema to the movement’s principles.

Still, Rand Paul’s endorsement does have some obvious political benefits, at least in the short-term. Already, the endorsement has raised the Kentucky Senator’s national media profile, and sparked speculation about a possible VP nod. At Friday’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Chicago, Sen. Paul came in fourth place in the vice presidential straw poll with 8% of the vote, coming in one point behind House Budget Chair Paul Ryan.

When asked about a possible V.P. run yesterday, Sen. Paul told CNN“it would be a great honor to be considered.”